Xi Jinping Plans to Fund Pakistan

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President Xi Jinping of China, center right, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, center left, rode in a carriage to a meeting with President Mamnoon Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday.CreditLan Hongguang/Xinhua

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Xi Jinping of China on Tuesday concluded an upbeat two-day visit to Pakistan during which he pledged $46 billion worth of energy and infrastructure projects.

The ambitious new development plans center on a network of Chinese rail and road projects linking the port of Gwadar, on the Arabian Sea, with Xinjiang Province in western China. But officials say much of the planned funding, up to $37 billion, would go toward fixing Pakistan’s dilapidated power infrastructure — an urgent and long-unsolved problem that experts say shaves at least 2 percent off the country’s gross domestic product each year.

That influx could be a huge benefit for the ailing Pakistani economy. But security concerns in the region the Chinese transportation corridor would cut through, the violent breakaway province of Baluchistan, hang over the project. As if to emphasize the risk, separatist rebels were accused of staging an attack near the port of Gwadar just before Mr. Xi addressed the Pakistani Parliament in Islamabad.

The Chinese government also has its own separatist threat to worry about, posed by ethnic Uighur militants from its western Xinjiang region. Some of those militants have been spotted in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, where international militant groups have long found aid and training.

In his speech to the Pakistani Parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Xi significantly and warmly praised Pakistani military operations that targeted Uighur fighters in the tribal region of North Waziristan last year. “This is something that we shall never forget,” he said.

Such gushing sentiments within Pakistan have eluded the United States despite billions of dollars of American aid through the years, reflecting a deep vein of distrust of American intentions by the Pakistani public. Still, Pakistan’s military is currently hoping for congressional approval of a $1 billion list of weapons from American military contractors.

For China, a particular area of concern about Pakistan is Baluchistan. The planned economic corridor through the Pakistani province would offer China easier sea access to Africa, South Asia and the Persian Gulf, but the area remains deeply unstable.

On Tuesday, separatist Baluch rebels launched attacks on a coastal radar station near Gwadar, the Chinese-run port, and on a security force convoy in the Awaran district of the province.

Two soldiers and a militant were killed in the first episode, the local news media reported, and four militants were killed during the ambush, security officials said.

The Chinese know well the difficulty of working in Baluchistan.

In 2004, three Chinese engineers helping to build the Gwadar port were shot dead in what was seen as one of the first acts of the Baluch insurgency. Later, an additional two Chinese engineers working on a dam project in South Waziristan were kidnapped by the Taliban. One of the hostages was killed in a botched rescue attempt.

During Mr. Xi’s visit, Pakistan’s military said it would form a special security division to protect Chinese nationals working on development projects in Pakistan. The military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, said on Twitter that the new unit would involve an army battalion with air support, and that it would be commanded by a two-star general.

“Security is a challenge for both Pakistan and China,” said Masood Khan, a former Pakistani ambassador to China who heads the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies, a research group. “Both countries have made plans to manage this risk by fighting terrorism and spurring economic development in the affected areas.”

Raza Rumi, a fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, called the Chinese visit a “defining moment” for Pakistan. But, he warned, much hinges on Pakistan’s ability to manage the Baluch insurgency.

“Sooner or later, Pakistan will have to find a political solution to ensure that work planned in Gwadar and Baluchistan proceeds as planned,” he said.

Salman Masood reported from Islamabad, and Declan Walsh from London.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: China Leader Pledges Cash for Projects in Pakistan. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe